Smallville season eight will be even more comic-booky than we suspected, judging from today's panel at Comic-Con. Action Comics writer Geoff Johns will write an episode that introduces some of Superman's most colorful friends from the comics. And it looks like Clark's biggest battle yet could cause a lot of collateral damage. Click through for details and spoilers.

The Smallville producers showed a new season eight trailer, which included footage from previous seasons, but also new footage of Green Arrow, Aquaman, Black Canary and new characters Davis Bloome/Doomsday and Tess Mercer. New clips included Clark getting the stuffing beat out of him in Russia, Chloe saying that she's nothing special, while trying to get away from an attacker, and Chloe and Jimmy together. And Metropolis in ruins. Green Arrow shoots Clark, and then we see an S-pendant in Clark's hand. And Doomsday saying: "There's something out there, and whatever it is, it can kill you."

The big announcement at the Smallville panel was that Geoff Johns will write an episode of the show, introducing the Legion Of Superheroes, Clark's buddies from the 30th and 31st centuries. It's a kind of goofier, more futuristic version of the Justice League, where everybody has "flight rings" that allow them to fly, and most characters have one super-power that's spelled out in his/her name, like Matter-Eater Lad or Lightning Lass.

Also, the producers repeated their previous statements that they would keep the "no tights" rule for Clark, but relax the show's old "no flights" rule. They said they wouldn't rule out a cross-over with fellow CW show Supernatural. Tess Mercer won't just be replacing Lex as head of LuthorCorp, she'll also be Clark's boss at the Daily Planet. Chloe will be developing new powers, and other new attributes, this season. Also, it was hinted that the footage of Metropolis strewn with rubble was the result of Doomsday putting the big crazy smackdown on Clark's ass. Picture of Smallville Comic-Con bag from Seat 42F. [Thanks To Smallville Podcast and Wizard Universe]